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In the Senate Office Buildings, Maintenance Collaboration Is a Clean Sweep

Hours before the sun rises each morning, Zamboni-like scrubbing machines scuttle through the halls of the Senate office buildings. Each is operated by a dedicated team of Architect of the Capitol (AOC) specialists who spend hours ensuring the marble flooring sparkles.
By Madeleine Lucchetti |January 5, 2023
        
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    Photo of Vernon Miller II, Kenneth Vereen and Pete Ferentinos.

Vernon Miller II, Kenneth Vereen and Pete Ferentinos provided invaluable guidance that helped restore 20 pieces of floor care machinery.

When the city wakes and the doors open, thousands of visitors, staff and Members of Congress tread over clean walkways. After the sun sets and the halls clear, the process begins again.

These predawn, behind-the-scenes rituals are routine for the AOC's maintenance staff. Through snow and rain, dry summers and pollen-packed springs, maintenance teams tackle the care and cleaning of the floors as well as other interior structures and elements within Capitol campus facilities. Much of their work and equipment is sheltered far under-ground in the Senate office building garages and loading docks, places few visitors and only some staff ever see.

"No matter the hour of day, there are a lot of people down here working really hard — and many of us have been with the AOC for years, so there's a strong sense of camaraderie," said Pete Ferentinos, a Maintenance Worker Supervisor in the Senate Office Buildings Garage Branch. A mechanic by trade, he's been in the industry for nearly 40 years and has worked at the AOC for 12 years — 10 of which have been spent in the Garage Branch. No two days are the same, and he and his colleagues have grown especially close when working through particularly strenuous situations, like heavy overnight snow removal and high-profile event preparation. In the garage, their synergy is clear: the team navigates heavy, loud machinery with ease as they simultaneously call out to check in on one another. It's a delicate ballet that relies upon the expertise and detail-oriented eye of each mechanic — and their individual commitment to the AOC's overarching mission.

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    Kenneth Vereen, Maintenance Mechanic Leader in the Senate Office Buildings, goes above and beyond to support the AOC's mission.

Kenneth Vereen, Maintenance Mechanic Leader in the Senate Office Buildings, goes above and beyond to support the AOC's mission.Back in August, this long-standing camaraderie propelled Ferentinos and his Garage Branch colleagues, Vernon Miller and Kenneth Vereen, to help Dennis Anthony and the Senate Office Buildings Floor Care team. Multiple scrubbing machines integral to the nightly cleaning process were broken. Even with busy summer schedules and tight deadlines, Ferentinos, Miller and Vereen volunteered to help Anthony examine all 20 pieces of equipment in the Advance ES4000 series. Ferentinos described their approach as puzzle-solving, working backwards to identify which pieces were missing or faulty: if one of the brushes on a machine's base wasn't rotating, the team examined the apparatus rolling the brush.

After diagnosing and troubleshooting the equipment failures, the team quickly had two machines back up and running. From there, Ferentinos, Miller and Vereen helped Anthony identify which parts were required to get the rest of the machines online. Now, the Floor Care team is better prepared for their busiest season, winter — which brings colder, wetter weather and thus more slush and salt on passageways. Not only are the machines used daily, but they're also cleaned daily, too. Anthony and Ferentinos are using the insights gleaned from these recent inspections to flag any future issues found during the nightly inspections. What was once a complex roadblock has transformed into a collaborative learning opportunity. "Collaboration is second nature to us," Anthony said. "It didn't matter to the Garage Branch folks that fixing these machines wasn't in their job description."

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    AOC's Kenneth Vereen examines one of the Advance ES4000 machines.

Kenneth Vereen examines one of the Advance ES4000 machines."It's all part of our trade," Ferentinos affirmed. "My staff are amazing; they're willing to help as much as they can." This willingness to lend a hand is something Ferentinos and his peers aim to instill in all their colleagues, and it typically leads to such mutually beneficial outcomes. Ferentinos and his team gained valuable on-the-job training, and Anthony and his team gained greater functionality of their machines. By embodying these values, these leaders guide their teams in meeting the AOC's mission to serve, preserve and inspire.

Throughout their respective tenures at the agency, Ferentinos, Anthony, Miller and Vereen have witnessed much change and growth, within the AOC and within themselves. One thing has remained constant: their dedication to the AOC's mission. "To be effective supervisors, we have to be willing to adapt and adjust to change — so that it's easier for employees to digest," Anthony agreed. "I try to encourage people to look around and ask questions, so that they're more engaged with what's going on around campus — even if most of our time is spent in one place."

Thanks to the ongoing collaboration of all its maintenance teams, the AOC continues to operate as a well-oiled machine.
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